Trouble getting Dual CPUs to Boot


keithwlandry

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General Hardware question. I can't get to any OS yet, so this isn't exactly an unRAID question, but I don't know where else to turn. 

 

Here's the setup: Motherboard=MD60-SC0, CPUs=Intel E5-2620 v4 (two of them); RAM=Four sticks of G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133. 

 

I've updated the BIOS with a v3 chip; it is not the R02 BIOS.

 

I can get one CPU to boot. I have confirmed both CPUs are good by booting them both separately. I confirmed all the RAM is good by putting one of each stick into the CPU1 Slot0 for Channel 1,2,3,&4. I see 64GBs in the BIOS and boots to OS fine. 

 

I CANNOT get both CPUs to work in any combination of the four sticks of RAM. Is there a setting I'm missing to enable dual CPUs? 

 

I have even tried using only two of the four sticks of RAM to try to figure it out. Still nothing. 

 

It always freezes at the "Initializing chipset" screen and the letter/number combination in the bottom right that changes during that screen always stops at "79" when I try to have both CPUs in. 

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated. 

 

Thanks, 

 

-Keith

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18 minutes ago, keithwlandry said:

I ran power estimates at a couple different places; even with a dozen HDD's hooked up; I should barely get over 400W. 

Wattage doesn't matter.  Amps per rail are what counts.  The key with that power supply is that it has 2 12volt rails, each rated at 32A individually, or for a combined maximum of 56A)

 

It doesn't look like Athena has a manual online, but you need to check out what 12v1 and 12v2 actually power.  IF the hard drives are running off of the same rail as the CPUs (ie: both are on 12v1 and 12v2 is dedicated to the PCIe connectors (not an unusual situation), then you are really pushing the supply to the limit (and beyond) due to the spinup current required by the drives.

 

Side note, PSU for server's running actual RAID systems can generally be rated lower than what is necessary for unRaid.  This is because under a normal RAID system, the drives are running 24-7, and during boot up, you would generally enable the controller to spin the drives up individually rather than all at once (which happens say at the start of a parity check), to keep the current draw at a minimum

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How do you connect power cables form your PSU to the motherboard?

for dual CPU you usually need two separate cables - 24pin and another 8pin designed for CPU.

 

another idea is RAM - try to boot with both CPU and one RAM stick for each one.

 

on my Supermicro board i tried several ram slot combinations until it boots fine and sees all sticks..

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4 hours ago, Squid said:

Wattage doesn't matter.  Amps per rail are what counts.  The key with that power supply is that it has 2 12volt rails, each rated at 32A individually, or for a combined maximum of 56A)

 

It doesn't look like Athena has a manual online, but you need to check out what 12v1 and 12v2 actually power.  IF the hard drives are running off of the same rail as the CPUs (ie: both are on 12v1 and 12v2 is dedicated to the PCIe connectors (not an unusual situation), then you are really pushing the supply to the limit (and beyond) due to the spinup current required by the drives.

 

Side note, PSU for server's running actual RAID systems can generally be rated lower than what is necessary for unRaid.  This is because under a normal RAID system, the drives are running 24-7, and during boot up, you would generally enable the controller to spin the drives up individually rather than all at once (which happens say at the start of a parity check), to keep the current draw at a minimum

 

Ahh okay. That's good to know. Thanks. 

 

I may to try to take a voltmeter and check the amperage. 

 

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4 hours ago, uldise said:

How do you connect power cables form your PSU to the motherboard?

for dual CPU you usually need two separate cables - 24pin and another 8pin designed for CPU.

 

another idea is RAM - try to boot with both CPU and one RAM stick for each one.

 

on my Supermicro board i tried several ram slot combinations until it boots fine and sees all sticks..

 

Thanks for the reply. Yea. I have the 24 pin and two 8 pins (one for each CPU) connected . 

 

I tried booting with only one stick per CPU. I tried The Second CPU channel 1 slot 0, channel 1 slot 1, channel 2 slot 0, and channel 2 slot 1.....same thing. 

Edited by keithwlandry
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So you have added the memory in DIMM_P0_A0/DIMM_P0_A1 (For pimary CPU) and DIMM_P1_E0/DIMM_P1_E1 (For secondary CPU)?

The slots for CPU 1 is the blue and black from the middle down and for CPU 2 is blue and black from the top down.

 

Have you contacted gigabyte to ask what code 79 means?

Found it in the manual. Error code 79 means DXE CSM INIT. If you google it, you get hits about it, so might be worth to check it out.

Have you cleared the bios and reset to defaults?

Edited by saarg
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As saarg just noted, you need to have memory installed in the correct sockets for BOTH CPU's => if you've installed all 4 modules in the slots for CPU #1, then it won't be able to use CPU #2.   If that's the case I'm a bit surprised there's not a BIOS message telling you that -- but in any event you need to check that you've got your modules installed correctly so that both CPU's have memory.

 

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17 hours ago, saarg said:

So you have added the memory in DIMM_P0_A0/DIMM_P0_A1 (For pimary CPU) and DIMM_P1_E0/DIMM_P1_E1 (For secondary CPU)?

The slots for CPU 1 is the blue and black from the middle down and for CPU 2 is blue and black from the top down.

 

Have you contacted gigabyte to ask what code 79 means?

Found it in the manual. Error code 79 means DXE CSM INIT. If you google it, you get hits about it, so might be worth to check it out.

Have you cleared the bios and reset to defaults?

 

Yes that's correct. I tried in those four slots. I also tried only two slots: DIMM_P0_A0 (For pimary CPU) and DIMM_P1_E0 (For secondary CPU). 

 

I've googled a little bit; haven't found anything concreted like it means "THIS". I cleared the BIOS, reset to defaults, and then I had to re update BIOS to work with the v4 CPUs, which meant putting in v3 CPU. 

 

I may do it again and only update to R01 instead of R02; see if that helps. 

 

16 hours ago, garycase said:

As saarg just noted, you need to have memory installed in the correct sockets for BOTH CPU's => if you've installed all 4 modules in the slots for CPU #1, then it won't be able to use CPU #2.   If that's the case I'm a bit surprised there's not a BIOS message telling you that -- but in any event you need to check that you've got your modules installed correctly so that both CPU's have memory.

 

 

Right, thanks garycase. I may have mentioned putting all four in CPU1 earlier; but that was just to test all the memory sticks; since I can get a boot when I only have one CPU installed. But; when I'm trying to get both CPUs to boots; I'm splitting them two and two between the CPUs. Trying different channel combos though. what saarg said, is it probably should be channel one for both CPUs; using slots 0 and 1. 

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10 minutes ago, saarg said:

When I googled the error code you got, on most hits I checked had in common G.skill memory. Have you tested with other brands. It's also not on the tested list gigabyte has on their support page for the motherboard. 

 

I haven't. but that might be next on my list after I downgrade the BIOS. 

 

Would it help though? If I confirmed all four work with one CPU ?

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Interesting that it's working with one CPU.   The error code isn't clear -- errors at the DXE phase are typically due to some hardware issue (e.g. memory), but it's surprising that you only get that with 2 CPU's installed.   The CSM interrupt could mean some issue with your graphics card, but again it's surprising that you don't see if with only a single CPU.

 

I'd guess that this may indeed be an incompatibility with the G-Skill modules, as there indeed seem to be quite a few references to DXE errors with these modules.   Certainly wouldn't hurt to try a couple modules of another brand -- I'd use Crucial or Kingston modules.

 

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"... I cleared the BIOS, reset to defaults, and then I had to re update BIOS to work with the v4 CPUs, which meant putting in v3 CPU.  "  ==>  I assume this means you have a v3 CPU that you could do this with.    Note that this motherboard supports Asus' "Easy BIOS Update" feature, which allows you to do a BIOS update WITHOUT a CPU installed :D.    I've used this feature on a couple of desktop boards -- and it works VERY well.

 

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12 minutes ago, garycase said:

Interesting that it's working with one CPU.   The error code isn't clear -- errors at the DXE phase are typically due to some hardware issue (e.g. memory), but it's surprising that you only get that with 2 CPU's installed.   The CSM interrupt could mean some issue with your graphics card, but again it's surprising that you don't see if with only a single CPU.

 

I'd guess that this may indeed be an incompatibility with the G-Skill modules, as there indeed seem to be quite a few references to DXE errors with these modules.   Certainly wouldn't hurt to try a couple modules of another brand -- I'd use Crucial or Kingston modules.

 

Yea, I'm going to buy a couple new sticks and try it later this week. I don't have a extra graphics card in. Just using the onboard. 

 

9 minutes ago, garycase said:

"... I cleared the BIOS, reset to defaults, and then I had to re update BIOS to work with the v4 CPUs, which meant putting in v3 CPU.  "  ==>  I assume this means you have a v3 CPU that you could do this with.    Note that this motherboard supports Asus' "Easy BIOS Update" feature, which allows you to do a BIOS update WITHOUT a CPU installed :D.    I've used this feature on a couple of desktop boards -- and it works VERY well.

 

Funny enough Gigabyte figured that out and added that feature. BUT; the default BIOS setting is for it to be turned OFF.  >:( AND you have to do a BIOS update to use v4 chips so I had to find a one time use v3 to turn the update feature; and then put in the v4s .

 

It was half off on Newegg; I'm starting to see why. 

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"... It was half off on Newegg; I'm starting to see why." => Well for half price perhaps it only supports one CPU :D

 

More seriously ... just in case, I'd try swapping the EPS-12V connectors (the 8-pin CPU aux power connectors) => not likely to matter; but if you happen to have a defective one that might at least isolate the cause.

 

Clearly you know about (and I've seen a LOT of on-line comments about) the requirement for a BIOS upgrade to support v4 processors (which you have).   You indicated you installed a v3 CPU to do the update [REALLY surprising Asus has the neat "update a BIOS without a CPU or even turning on the system" feature, but ships the board in a state where the required IPMI function for this feature is disabled !!] ==> so my question is do you by chance have TWO identical v3 processors, so you could confirm whether or not the board will work with dual v3 CPU's?

 

Do you have a spare PSU with dual EPS-12v outputs that you could try instead of your Athena?    Preferably a single-rail unit, although I really doubt that the load on either rail is an issue (but it IS possible that one of your rails is defective, which may explain this whole problem).

 

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I THINK; I tried swapping my PSU's CPU power connections over the weekend when I was crying on the floor. But I can try again tonight. Good thought, thanks. 

 

I haven't gone down that route of buying two v3s to test. I had a spare v3 16## to update the BIOS; but I think I read that you have to have two 26##s to run dual CPUs. So I'd have to buy two more v3 CPUs; and as much stuff as I've returned to Amazon this week I'm worried they may start flagging me as a problem child :) 

 

I'm going to see about calling Gigabyte today when I get home. If I have to wait 3-5 business days for them to answer every reply on their online ticketing system I will never get this fixed. 

 

And the PSU only came with two 8 pin outputs. I don't know a ton about PSUs; but there some 6pin+2pin looking plugs but I don't think those are meant for CPU power. And I have no idea where my PSU box is to try to read up on it. 

 

Fun story, I stayed up reading the entire manual the other night when Gigabyte support responded with " It should be in PNP" . . . . . thinking maybe I was missing a simple BIOS setting. Only to realize they were trying to say it should be plug and play. 

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